Orange students dish up new meals with White House chef

Wearing white chef's hats, students from nine Orange County Public Schools took to the stage this morning and sizzled up new dishes for school meals.

Students, local chefs and food service managers helped develop the meals so they would be healthy and appetizing, yet within school nutrition and cost guidelines.

In the Edgewater High School auditorium, students from Dommerich Elementary cooked fish tacos. Wolf Lake Elementary students assembled fruit rolls and those from Liberty Middle prepared a Southwest Turkey Crunch, among others.

The event was part of the Chefs Move to Schools initiative inspired by First Lady Michelle Obama's Let's Move! campaign.

Lora Gilbert, senior director of Food & Nutrition Services for Orange County schools, said the goal is to roll out all of the items, which have been taste-tested by students, in all schools by the end of the year. They will be sold as part of regular meals, not a la carte.

Kass, who also is the food initiative coordinator for the White House, said 2,000 chefs have signed up to participate in schools around the country.

Thornton said voluntary efforts such as Chefs Move to Schools can make a big impact. "We can legislate things, but if there's not buy-in, it's not gonna happen."

After the Iron Chef-style cook-offs, students got a chance to taste samples.

Brock Marjama, 14, an eighth-grader at Southwest Middle School, tried a yogurt chicken salad in a hollowed-out half hoagie roll. He gave a thumbs-up as he chewed.

"It has two servings of vegetable, whole grain and protein," he said. In a restaurant, such a dish might use bass or mahi mahi, but the school version uses tilapia. The fish is sustainable, and "it's readily available for schools at an inexpensive price," he said.

The taco combines the fish with seasoned rice and beans and coleslaw made with yogurt inside a whole-grain tortilla.

Kass declared the local effort a model that can be replicated nationwide.

School lunches are getting better than they used to be, he said. "We have a long way to go, but we're making great progress."